Why Sell Services Direct ?

The company recently shared its managed services direct pricing with its MSP partners in a move designed to ease their worries over commoditization and lower margins.

"Feedback from the webinar was very positive," Menegay says. "They liked our openness and honesty, and felt it was genuine. Most partners are delivering more services at less price than what our services are."

And by offering this service direct, and promoting it, Menegay says Dell has "increased the value of how this service is viewed at the end user.

"Partners are usually doing the same kind of services for less money," Menegay says. "We've actually increased value of services for them. We are bringing awareness to clients about this service."

Why sell direct at all? Menegay says that Dell is giving the customer the ultimate choice. So for customers who already deal directly with Dell and would like to continue to do so for their managed services, Dell will sell direct to them. And for customers of VARs and MSPs who prefer to deal with their trust advisors, Dell will deal through its channel partners.

Dell has honored that so far with DoITSmarter. One of DoITSmarter's MSPs told the company that it wanted to switch from them to do business with Dell, Smith says. Dell told them they couldn't do that, but grandfathered them in to get the benefits of being a Dell partner at the same time DoItSmarter retained the business.

Dell also recently passed along an MSP lead to DoITSmarter, Smith says.

Menegay says that Dell will be extending its managed services pilot program to its partner ranks this month.

Jessica Davis covers the channel for eWeek and Channel Insider. Her technology journalism career began well before anyone heard of the World Wide Web and has included stints at Infoworld, Electronic News/EDN, and the Philadelphia Business Journal. Her work has also appeared on CNN and Forbes.com. She has covered hardware, software and networking, as well as the business side of technology. She has won several journalism awards, including a national ASBPE award for best staff-written column, and was named Marketing Computers hardest working tech journalist on their inaugural list of top tech journalists. Jessica can be reached at jessica.davis@ziffdavisenterprise.com